tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170472909029204350.post8864626449156407152..comments2009-01-27T21:47:48.312-08:00Comments on Media Impact in NY and DC: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: Bearing witnessZac Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14016477606603940494noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170472909029204350.post-65756329352667771172009-01-26T22:14:00.000-08:002009-01-26T22:14:00.000-08:00This museum was an overwhelming experience for me ...This museum was an overwhelming experience for me also. I think the most intense part of the exhibit was seeing all the shoes that belonged to the victims. It made the tragic events all the more real and saddening when I realized that each pair of shoes belonged a person; someone just like me. I was also wondering the whole time how everyone just watched and didn't do anything. However, it's hard to say that I would do something if I were put in the same position. It's one of those things that you think you would do the right thing in that situation, but who knows what would happen if you were actually there and could lose your life as a result.<BR/><BR/>-Jordan KamikawaWhitTrip1https://www.blogger.com/profile/16250134661020780702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170472909029204350.post-51963305412795733172009-01-26T13:16:00.000-08:002009-01-26T13:16:00.000-08:00The same quote that James referenced was the one t...The same quote that James referenced was the one that stuck out to me during our time there. Reading everything and trying to soak in the experiences that these individuals must have undertaken was all-consuming, but that quote leaves nothing to the imagination. And while we tend to examine the Holocaust and see only horror, it's also the ultimate story of love-of reaching out from one brother to another and opening doors, basements, attics, food, etc...to nothing short of a perfect stranger. Impressive, really. It's a story of pain and seemingly unending suffering, but also one of hope. It's heart-wrenching to think of the inflicted, but heart-warming to remember the good. I was affected but the hurt, but impressed with the man's workbench that hid an entrance to a basement where a family was hidden for nearly two years. There may be ache from the past, but I take joy in knowing humankind has a second, third, fourth, fifth opportunity to prove itself compassionate. <BR/><BR/>-Danika HeatherlyWhitTrip3https://www.blogger.com/profile/15068908540230158140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170472909029204350.post-78435504301339085092009-01-26T11:38:00.001-08:002009-01-26T11:38:00.001-08:00Good post. One of the most striking things at the ...Good post. One of the most striking things at the Holocaust Museum for me was a quote on the wall by Martin Niemoller: "First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out - Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists and I did not speak out - Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - Because I was not a Jew. <BR/><BR/>"Then they came for me - And there was no one to speak for me."<BR/><BR/>The quote really jabs at the way people tend to overlook injustice that does not affect them, as so many Germans (and so many people across the world) did during World War II. If we can learn any lesson from a visit to the Holocaust Museum, we should find it in this quote. Justice for others is justice for ourselves, whether or not we are directly affected. (Now apply the same lesson to South Africa in the 1980s, to Rwanda in the 1990s, to Darfur now, and so on.)<BR/><BR/>-James SpungWhitTrip1https://www.blogger.com/profile/16250134661020780702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170472909029204350.post-2598418175003800142009-01-26T11:38:00.000-08:002009-01-26T11:38:00.000-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.WhitTrip1https://www.blogger.com/profile/16250134661020780702noreply@blogger.com